Bond Between Gymnasts
by HarryPassionFan
Summary: An elite gymnast is murdered, but is there a connection between her murder and the disappearance of another gymnast a few months earlier in Washington DC.


A/N: This is my first ever fanfiction. All recognizable characters are owned by ABC/FOX and Hart Hanson and Andrew Marlowe.

Chapter One

It was early morning when Melissa Glen woke up and got ready to start her day. There was a reason why she was up in the wee hours of the morning. She was a gymnast - training for the National Championship in New York City. She was waiting for a fellow gymnast to come over so they can do their normal routine of running before practice started for the day. Today was different, because her running partner never showed up and her cell phone automatically went to voicemail. Rather than go out running by herself she decide to use the treadmill in her building's gym. She was all set to chew out her friend for not showing up, when she noticed the familiar car.

"Finally" she said, opening the car door. But when she saw her friend she let out a scream. In the driver side laid her friend, slumped against the steering wheel. Her eyes having the unmistakable look of death.

* * *

Kate Beckett's sleep was interrupted by the sound of her cell phone, which usually means one thing - another case to solve.

"Beckett," she responded in a way that said that she was woken up. After getting the details of where to go, she got showered and dressed. She went through her normal routine of putting on her necklace that contained her mother's ring and her father's watch before putting her gun in its holster.

At the crime scene, after crossing the yellow tape, she was greeted by her fellow detectives - Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan. She also gave a nod to Lanie Parish, the medical examiner who returned the greeting before resuming her examination of the body.

"Morning detective," Ryan greeted.

"Morning Ryan, Esposito. What have we got?" Beckett asked, not wanting to interrupt Lanie's examination of the body.

"Shouldn't we wait for Castle?" Ryan asked referring to Beckett's writer-monkey. Right on cue a taxi arrived and out came Richard Castle, holding a tray of coffee.

"Sorry I'm late Detective, but I come with a peace offering." Castle said handing out the coffee to Ryan, Esposito and Beckett.

"Thanks bro," Esposito said, grabbing his coffee. "Victim's name is Meredith Sharp, gymnast. Apparently she was supposed to pick up a friend, Melissa Glen, for their usual morning run before they head over to practice. This time however Meredith never showed up and her cell was turned off."

"A gymnast? Alexis wanted to be a gymnast before she discovered the violin. Now I'm glad she decided on music because gymnastics can be a killer." Castle chimed in.

"Unless gymnastics involves a gun, that's not what killed her." Lanie Parish, the medical examiner, responded, pointing to the bullet hole in the back of head. "What did kill her was a small caliber gun, and judging by body temperature I would put time of dead at least an hour before her friend found her."

"Where's the friend that discovered the body?" Beckett asked.

"She's across the street. Poor kid was so freaked out that she had to be sedated before being escorted back to her building." Ryan pointed to the building.

"Okay while Castle and I talk to the friend, you and Esposito comb the area and see if anyone saw or heard anything." Beckett said.

"And Castle, next time I will be expecting a cup of coffee as well," Lanie said after noticing she had no coffee. Castle gave her a nod indicating he got the message.

* * *

Castle and Beckett arrived at the Glen's apartment.

"Melissa I know that today was a hard day, but I need to know if you saw or heard anything unusual before you saw your friend." Beckett asked.

"No, I waited for her to buzz the apartment and when it was past six and she still didn't call I decided to just use the treadmill. I had my iPod on while I was running so I didn't hear anything. And when I saw her car out front I figured she had decided to also run using the treadmill and was here to pick me up to go to practice like we usually do after our morning run." Melissa managed the story between sobs.

"Do you know anyone who might want to hurt Meredith?" Beckett asked.

"She wasn't exactly loved by the other gymnasts in the club because she can play hardball when it comes to winning, but I can't imagine anyone hating her enough to want to kill her." Melissa said.

"Did Meredith have a boyfriend?" Castle asked, already predicting the answer.

"No, because coach is very strict with the no boyfriend rule, especially with Nationals being so close. Although I wouldn't be surprise if she did, she didn't really follow that rule. If she did have a boyfriend she was really good at hiding it." Melissa responded.

"Do you know where I can get in touch with Meredith's parents?" Beckett asked wanting to inform the parents herself before they found out from the media.

"Yeah my parents should have the list of phone numbers and addresses of all the gymnasts in the club." She said looking at her parents. Her mom left the couch to retrieve the list.

"Here you go," Meredith's mom said. "Now we really have to get going practice already started, Melissa's coach is strict about starting on time and she already missed the warm-ups."

"Thank you, and again I'm sorry about your friend." Beckett said. She and Castle left the apartment.

"So what did the neighbors say?" Beckett asked Ryan and Esposito once they were back at the crime scene.

"Well the neighbors didn't hear anything so we can assume that the killer used a silencer and they didn't see anything unusual." Ryan responded.

"Okay. Castle and I will go notify the parents. Why don't you and Esposito head over to gymnastic practice and talk to the people there?" Beckett asked. Esposito and Ryan acknowledged the order and the two pairs went to their respective cars and left for their destinations.


End file.
